Lorkan

Lorkan

Life-form Type

Homeworld

Lorkans are a race who left their original homeworld and settled on a planet in Brakiri space that they named Lorka VII around the Earth year 1767.

The Lorkans were not a particularly old or advanced race but their technological development was accelerated by the discovery of advanced technology left behind after the original inhabitants of Lorka VII after they died out centuries before.

The Lorkans believe in a deity they refer to as "The Most Holy". According to Lorkan tradition The Most Holy appeared to them and declared that those who were without sin and corruption, would be led to a promised land, which turned out to be Lorka VII. They also believe that the great machines and secrets, mysteries that they found were a gift from The Most Holy who had turned his anger against those who had lived there before and deemed them unworthy of his bounty. Their prophecy states that the world and its secrets are theirs so long as they remain pure and without corruption.
Possibly because of this belief the Lorkans have acquired an attitude of self superiority and condescension towards other races that rivals even the Lumati. As such other races see the Lorkans as pompous and possibly self-deluded fanatics who hide behind their dogma as a way of legitimising their claim to a world of advanced technology they themselves don't fully understand, but are generally unwilling to share what they have.
For the next five centuries they maintained these beliefs of their own innate purity and refused to let any other race to visit their world for fear of contaminating the world itself with their innate corruption and ethical inferiority.

The religious elite of the Lorkans however are considered (especially by themselves) to be pure and above any temptation and as such are able to interact with other races offworld without fear of being corrupted. This however changed in 2267 when CaptainMatthew Gideon of the Excalibur met with the Lorkan representatives to Babylon 5, Ris and Polix, requesting permission for the crew of the Excalibur to land on Lorka VII in hopes of finding something that will help them cure the Drakh plague. As it turns out Ris and Polix, despite being Religious leaders, had been selling advanced Lorka VII technology to other races for several years and keeping the profits for themselves. Fearing that Gideon would discover their dealing if they visited their homeworld they attempted to kill him and Captain Elizabeth Lochley. After their attempt failed they claimed that being exposed to alien corruption led to their moral downfall. As a result the Lorkan leadership reversed their policy on offworlders visiting Lorka VII and told Gideon that he and his people were welcome to come and move freely among them. According to one of their officials, it was believed that without something to test their faith, that they had grown complacent and that interacting with a species as corrupt as Humans would be the supreme test of their faith. [1]